Out of the Book
by sunny tuesday
Summary: Harry Potter book six & INKHEART: Mo's reading The Half Blood Prince aloud to Meggie when Scrimgeour suddenly appears. Will the minister be able to get home? oneshot.


**Out of the Book  
_by shiningbright  
_****combining Inkheart and Harry Potter**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter or Inkheart. Rowling & Funke do.

**A/N:** Hey. I know I should be writing chapter fifteen for _The Perfect Story_, but this idea was just too good to pass up. Another oneshot for a contest at the forum _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_. This is my first crossover and fic where I'm writing characters _outside_ of Harry Potter lore. Lol. Enjoy!

**oneshot**

Meggie curled up in a chair beside the fire, her eyes glassy in the flickering light. Mo, her father, sat across from her, the latest Harry Potter book- _Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince-_ lay open in his lap. A slight wind blew outside, rustling the leaves of the summer trees and making the shutters groan.

"He looked rather like an old lion." Mo began. "There were streaks of grey in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp."

Meggie's father paused for breath when suddenly-

"_Merlin_" a figure shouted, standing in the corner, panting, as he had just jumped out of a book. "What am I doing here?"

"Scrimgeour?" Meggie cried excitedly, standing up. "Is it you? Oi! This is so great! Mo, look, Rufus Scrimgeour!"

"Oh dear, oh dear," Mo sighed, snapping the book shut. "This isn't good one little bit..." He turned to face the confused minister, who was leaning on a staff. "So sorry, Minister... It seems you are out of the book."

"A book? What? Whatever are you talking about? I was just having a little stroll, off to meet the Boy-Who-Lived, or Chosen One as they're calling Potter these days, and suddenly everything goes black and I wake up here!" Scrimgeour growled, shaking his fist. "We're at war! I can't spend time ditty dawdling!"

"I understand that, Minister," Mo replied shakily, standing. "But there's nothing I can do…"

"Whatever do you mean? You got me here! Get me back! Or, Lord help me, I will curse you!" Scrimgeour threatened, pulling out his wand. Mo put his hands out, waving his arms in a self-defensive manner. "You weren't this...rude or cranky in the books. Perhaps Joanna wrote you incorrectly...Hmm..."

"What books? Are you insane?" Scrimgeour demanded. "Where am I?"

"At my house," Meggie answered. "And a bit away from Wizard London. My dad- Mo- read you out of a book, _Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince_."

"They wrote a book about me?" Scrimgeour asked incredulously. "How grand! I never thought becoming a minister would bring such fame! Me, in a storybook! How funny!"

"Not really," Mo continued. "You're stuck here. There's no going back. At least, not until you can find a way back into the book."

"Why would I want to go into a book? Sounds a bit uncomfortable, doesn't it?" Scrimgeour pointed out, sitting down in a slightly worn sofa.

"Oh..." Mo groaned, leaning his head in his hands. "This isn't easy, Minister."

"Rufus," Meggie began, "You're in a different world. The world you came from was in these books." She motioned to the shelf on the opposite wall. All six Harry Potter books, in hardback and paperback, gleamed in the firelight. "Mo has this talent. Sometimes when he reads out loud he reads characters or objects out of the books. Thank goodness he read out you, as opposed to Lord Volde-"

Scrimgeour jumped in his chair, knocking over a vase of flowers, which fell to the floor and shattered. "Oh, dear, I'm sorry. But please don't say that name again! To think you, a little girl, can say it without any problem at all…" He caressed his forehead as if he was stricken with a sudden headache.

"But don't you see? You're not in Harry Potter Land anymore," Meggie continued. "You're in a different reality."

"Harry Potter Land?" Scrimgeour asked, raising an eyebrow. "I know they worship the boy, but naming a region after him? That seems a bit extreme…"

Meggie sighed. Suddenly, her face lighted up. "Mo, do you think if Scrimgeour _apparated _back, he would make it into the book?"

"I don't know," Mo answered. "Maybe…"

"Apparate? What a bloody good idea!" Scrimgeour smiled, standing. "I need to go back… Loads of paperwork, you know… I hope Shacklebolt got started on the Fenrir Greyback case… So much to do…"

"So you're going to try?" Mo asked.

"Why not? I've apparated hundreds of times!" Scrimgeour responded confidently.

"Yeah," agreed Meggie. "But never…never like this. Never back into a book."

"Who says I'm going back into a book? Just going to the office… Hopefully Percy Weasley won't be looking for me. He's smart, ambitious, that one, but a pest." Scrimgeour paused, his brow furrowed. He looked up at Mo and Meggie. "Well, it was nice meeting you two. Good-bye."

"Good luck," Meg answered. "Be careful."

Mo brooded in the corner, staring at the other man doubtfully. "It won't work…"

"What, apparition? Course it will! I've done it a thousand times!" and without another single word, Rufus Scrimgeour disappeared with a crack.

"Did it work?" Meggie asked. "Do you think it worked?"

"I don't know… The book will change if he's been out more than a day. We'll check tomorrow. Good night, Meggie." Mo bid her, heading out of the room.

"'Night Mo." Meggie answered, heading off to bed.

**shiningbright**


End file.
